


How The Other Half Lives

by Ariana (ariana_paris)



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: F/M, Mirror Universe (Star Trek)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1997-07-08
Updated: 1997-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:33:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23428531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariana_paris/pseuds/Ariana
Summary: An accident propels Kira into the mirror universe, where she meets the alternate Dukat and his charming wife.
Relationships: Dukat/Kira Nerys
Kudos: 8





	How The Other Half Lives

"Wir haben beide den selben Stern  
Und Dein Schicksal ist doch meins  
Du bist mir fern, und doch nicht fern  
Denn uns're Seelen sind eins" *

\-- Zara Leander - "Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehn"

* We were born under the same star, and your destiny is mine. You are so far and yet so close because our souls are one. (Translation by author)

The first thing Kira became aware of when she regained consciousness was the lancing pain in her right arm. She could tell from experience that the bone was probably fractured, and groaned out loud at the prospect of being stranded on the dark side of a Bajoran moon with a crashed runabout and a broken arm. And she wasn't even in the right universe!

She had been piloting the runabout back to Deep Space Nine through an ion storm when her onboard sensors detected a plasma leak in her port nacelle. There must have been a quantum rupture within the storm, because when she emerged from the ionic interference and scanned Deep Space Nine's usual position, she discovered the station was nowhere to be found. A long range scan revealed that the station was orbiting Bajor, and it didn't take Kira long to figure out she was back in the mirror universe. She had headed for Terok Nor in the hopes that the Rebels were still in control of the station, but her damaged warp nacelle forced her into a crash landing on the fourth moon of Bajor, an inhospitable place, though it did have a breathable atmosphere. 

She pulled herself carefully to her feet and surveyed the damage. It was not too extensive, and she estimated she could have repaired it in a couple of days under normal circumstances. But she wasn't so sure how she would do with nothing but the emergency lights of the shuttle. Not to mention that her broken arm was going to be most inconvenient. She mentally cursed her fragile bones, Starfleet technology, quantum realities and anything else she could think of. That made her feel much better and she began to take a brighter view of her predicament. She was even feeling quite hungry.

"Hey, you!"

She turned towards the gruff voice and found a human man pointing a disrupter at her. He evidently recognised her, and she gathered from the expression on his face that her mirror counterpart, the Intendant, was not one of his favourite people. He raised his weapon menacingly.

"No, please," she pleaded, noticing that her phaser was out of reach. "I'm not who you think I am."

"Then who are you?" asked a calm voice out of the darkness.

She recognised the voice immediately, but was nonetheless surprised at Dukat's appearance as he walked into the dim light of the runabout. He was dressed in civilian clothes, a pair of baggy trousers and the sort of high-necked tunic Garak sometimes wore on Deep Space Nine. Having never seen Gul Dukat dressed in anything else but his rigid uniform, she couldn't help looking over his mirror counterpart with some interest.

However, she did have more pressing matters to tend to.

"I... I can explain," she said, cursing herself for stuttering like a guilty schoolgirl. "Have you heard of the mirror universe?"

He exchanged a surprised glance with the human and then nodded. "I've heard that we owed them our victories against the Alliance last year. I take it you're going to tell me you're the Intendant's mirror counterpart."

"Yes, I am," she said.

"Hmm."

The hum was very familiar and it struck her once more how strange it was to see the alternates of people she knew. She had never met or heard of Gul Dukat's counterpart, and she gathered from their brief exchange that he was on the side of the Rebels. Maybe Gul Dukat was right -- he and she did belong on opposite sides. Except here, Kira was on the side of the oppressors, and Dukat was apparently one of the freedom fighters.

In the meantime, he obviously wasn't sure whether to believe her story or not.

"What are you doing back here?" he asked.

"It was an accident," she explained.

"Pull the other one," muttered the Terran.

Dukat grinned. "Well, I guess we'll just have to find out if your story is true."

Handing his disrupter to the Terran, he came closer to Kira and drew a knife from his belt. Seizing the collar of her uniform, he cut through the material of her jacket and shirt to bare her left shoulder. He turned her towards the light and observed her skin.

"Hmm, you've obviously never been stung by a kelevela bee," he remarked. "I guess we'll have to assume you are who you say you are. Apologies for the rough welcome, but you never know who is going to drop out of the sky these days... Anyway, perhaps we can do the introductions now," he added with a pleasant smile. "I am Kesharl Dukat, commander of this base."

"Major Kira Nerys," she said, returning his smile automatically, though a sudden pang from her arm made her wince.

"Are you hurt?" he asked. "We have quite a good medical facility at the base. You're welcome to make use of it, since it appears you're on our side after all. We'll get someone out here to repair your shuttle."

"Thank you," she said as she followed him to his ground vehicle. 

The Terran got in the front to drive the vehicle and, after giving Kira a hypospray to dull the pain in her arm, Dukat showed her into the back of the truck. It was obviously designed to transport people, and two foam-covered benches ran along the sides. As she sat down opposite Dukat, Kira was relieved to find the seat wasn't too uncomfortable, though there were holes in the upholstery. 

Now that she could see him better, Kira took the opportunity to observe the alternate Dukat more thoroughly. Unsurprisingly, he was the image of his counterpart, but there was something more casual in his speech and demeanour. Where Gul Dukat was stilted and formal, this man reclined comfortably in his seat, his arm laid out on the back of the bench. He was looking at her just as curiously as she was looking at him.

"I must say, the resemblance is remarkable," he said finally.

"Yes, I... know," she said hesitantly. She wondered if she should tell him about his counterpart, but then decided to wait and satisfy her own curiosity first. "I take it you know the Intendant quite well."

He nodded slowly and lowered his eyes. "We were... intimate," he said guardedly. "For a short while."

"I see."

He paused, and then looked up at her again, his face quite serious.

"I heard you are quite different. You helped Sisko and his faction leave Terok Nor."

"Yes."

"Well, we all owe you a debt of gratitude," he said, smiling again. Kira found herself involuntarily warming to his smile, which lacked the edge of Gul Dukat's. "And what do you do in your universe?"

"I'm the first officer on our Terok Nor station, except it's called Deep Space Nine over there."

"I heard it's in a different position, as well. So do you work for the Terrans over there?"

"Yes. Benjamin Sisko is the commander of the station. It's under their command, but it actually belongs to the Bajorans now."

"They got it back from the Terrans?"

"No, the... Cardassians."

"You're going to have to give me a crash course in mirror history," he said with a sheepish grin. "I don't know much about it at all."

The memory of Gul Dukat at the height of his glory, swaggering around the station, suddenly appeared in her mind. Somehow, though they had the same features and the same voice, she found it difficult to imagine this Dukat swaggering anywhere. 

"I must say," he added, "you're not at all like our Kira Nerys."

"Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment."

"You certainly should. She's a dangerous woman to know. And if I ever come across her again, I'll kill her. You were fortunate that we know she's in the Dakhur province these days, so I knew you couldn't be her."

His voice sounded just enough like Gul Dukat's to run a shiver down her spine. She stayed silent for a moment, before her curiosity got the better of her again.

"I know this is none of my business," she started, realising this was definitely the truth. "But you said..."

"That I slept with her?" He looked away for a moment, before placing his pale eyes on her again. "I didn't do it by choice, though I suppose I can't really argue I was forced into it either. Sex does entail a certain amount of willing participation from the male partner," he said with a weak smile. "But she's a woman who always gets what she wants, and what she wanted was me." He sighed and then continued, "but she didn't just want to sleep with me, either. She needs to be adored, pampered, idolised, and that was something I could never do. Her Terran slaves can do that -- they were raised for it -- and I suppose Garak did a fair job of keeping her ego suitably massaged for his needs. But I'm no hypocrite. She's an arrogant, self-centred, cruel despot who adds incompetence to insensitivity... I wasn't going to give her any more encouragement than she already got, and that really angered her. My family and I were lucky to escape with our lives. Fortunately, my wife had some contacts in the underground movement, so we came here."

For some reason, she felt disappointed at the mention of his wife. But she told herself she shouldn't be so surprised; if the alternate Sisko was married to the same woman, there was no reason why the alternate Dukat wouldn't also be married to his alternate wife.

"You're very different too," she started, though she stopped abruptly when she saw the question in his eyes. She knew what he wanted to know before he even asked.

"So there's an alternate me, is there?"

She nodded. "And from what I know of you, you're as different from each other as I am from the Intendant."

"Really? What's he like?"

"He's... Well, I'd say the description you gave of the Intendant would suit Gul Dukat just fine!" she laughed.

"'Gul' Dukat..? Sounds like my grandfather," he said with obvious disgust. "A military man, is he?"

She smiled at Kesharl Dukat's reaction, but their conversation was interrupted. The truck had reached the rebel base in the twilight zone of the moon.

* * *

Dukat left Kira in the infirmary while he went to arrange for a team to go and get her runabout. Kira was quite fascinated by the rebel base. Nearly all the constructions were subterranean, presumably to shield them from the Alliance, but the base spread out for miles and miles. In fact, it was more like a city than a simple rebel camp. There were people from all species there, including the alternate counterparts of some of her acquaintances on Deep Space Nine. In fact, there were so many familiar faces she half expected Morn to appear. But maybe his alternate was in the bar.

She wasn't unduly surprised to find the head of the infirmary was Nurse Jabara. Everyone who saw her did a double take, and Jabara was no exception. But once Dukat had explained who she was, the nurse just set to tending her wounds. It struck Kira as interesting that Jabara was a healer in this reality as well, whereas Bashir was a soldier, not a doctor. But then, she reminded herself that Terrans were the underdogs in this universe. And perhaps "her" Bashir's genetic engineering had something to do with it, too.

While she was musing about the parallel universes, she watched Jabara silently tend to her wounds with something that looked as if it had come straight out of a hundred-year-old story padd. The equipment was old, but still functional, and Kira wondered how long the base had been here and if there had been any improvements since the rebel victory the previous year.

She was feeling and looking a lot better by the time Dukat came back. He was accompanied by a stout middle-aged Bajoran woman who gave her a bright smile as they entered. The woman was yet another familiar face she couldn't quite place, but Kira got the feeling this was someone she had met or seen under peculiar circumstances, because her slanting eyes and sensual thick lips rang a sonorous bell in the major's memory.

"I'm glad to see you're better," said Dukat, pausing to thank Jabara as he came in. He indicated the woman with him and started, "Major Kira Nerys, this is my wife --" 

It sounded as if he had planned to give his wife's name, but the woman interrupted him before he had finished.

"Pleased to meet you, Major Kira," she said enthusiastically, in a soft husky voice which was definitely familiar. "I've never met anyone from an alternate reality before, and the resemblance is quite striking. It's lucky Kesharl told me who you were or I might have taken a disrupter to you!"

Kira smiled politely, but her mind was reeling. The information that *this* was Dukat's wife in the alternate universe was only just sinking in. Apparently, Kesharl Dukat liked Bajoran women regardless of the quantum reality. That still didn't explain why the woman was so familiar.

"Here is a jumper for you. Kesharl told me he had made a right mess of your uniform... I see he wasn't exaggerating!" exclaimed Mrs. Dukat, handing her a knitted sweater. "I'll give your uniform to our local seamstress and she'll have it good as new in no time at all."

Jabara signalled that she could use an adjoining office to change. While she was removing her torn jacket and shirt, Kira tried again to place Mrs. Dukat's face. She must have been someone associated with Dukat in her universe, but Kira just couldn't remember who.

* * *

Once Kira was ready, and after Mrs. Dukat had gone and given the damaged uniform to the seamstress, the three of them walked through the base to the Dukats' dug-out. The entrance was at the bottom of a flight of steps carved out of the moon's rock face. The stairs were decorated with small plants and ill-defined little clay... things that looked like the sort of potteries Kira had made when she was a child. The door had obviously been adapted from a spacecraft of some kind, though it was manually operated. It opened onto a small living-room decorated with a mixture of Bajoran and Cardassian furniture.

It was only when Dukat's wife lit the stain-glassed lamp in the middle of the room, and a bluish light illuminated her face that Kira finally remembered why the woman was so familiar. Everything fell into place, where she had seen that face, heard that voice, and who this woman's counterpart was in Kira's universe.

"You're... you're Tora Naprem!" she blurted out.

The woman grinned brightly. "I certainly used to be... How did you know that?"

"Are we married in the other universe, too?" asked Dukat. There was some scuffling at the main door, and he went over to open it, letting in a couple of furry wompats.

"Not married... but I..." she started, trying to think how to put this. As it turned out, she didn't get a chance to continue, because Dukat, apparently unconcerned by her answer, went straight through to the kitchen to get some drinks. Naprem sat down on a chair and indicated Kira should do the same.

"By the way, Naprem, I'm 'Gul' Dukat in that universe," called out Dukat from the kitchen.

His wife laughed as she automatically lifted her hands off her lap to let a wompat onto it. "Then no wonder we're not married! I wouldn't be seen dead with a Gul... though I suppose if it was Kesharl, I might make an exception," she told Kira.

Dukat poked his head around the door. "Actually, in that universe, I'm cruel, arrogant, self-centred and I forget the rest. A thoroughly disreputable character... Tessa, get down," he shouted suddenly as he noticed one of the wompats was curled up on a chair. "You wouldn't like me at all... Tessa!"

The animal paid no attention to him, and Naprem laughed heartily. "One word from you and she does as she likes!"

He made a face at her. "You get her down, then. I have drinks to prepare."

"I can't," she said, indicating the other wompat on her knee.

Dukat shrugged his shoulders and went back into the kitchen.

Kira was very amused by the whole scene. The Dukats' domestic happiness warmed her heart. She had been under the impression that people in this universe were unhappier than those in hers, but this was apparently not the case. Though they were living on a virtually barren moon, and presumably on the run from the Alliance, they had created a happy little home for themselves. But her feelings were somewhat dampened by the thought of what might have been in her universe. She wondered if Gul Dukat had been this happy with his Naprem.

Her musing was interrupted by the door chime, a little array of metallic tubes which rang as they collided with each other. Kira could just make out a string running out through the wall.

"Kesharl!" called Naprem.

"Get that animal off your knee and answer the door!" was his response.

So she shooed the wompat onto the floor and, pausing only to poke Tessa off the chair, she went to open the door. Two half-caste children came in. The girl was in her early teens, but the boy was probably no more than five. He took one look at Kira and hid behind his sister, who didn't look too keen on her either.

"She's not the Intendant," explained Naprem. "And what are you two doing in here anyway?"

"He wanted some biscuits," said the girl, pointing to her brother with obvious irritation.

"Well he can't have any," responded their mother, shooing both wompats off her chair so she could sit in it again. 

Dukat looked in from the kitchen. "We're not made of food, you know," he said.

"Yes, you are," said the girl with a grin.

"Don't be cheeky," he chided good-naturedly. "You're supposed to be helping your big sister... and no jokes about that, either," he said before the girl could retort.

"But she *is* big," she protested.

She laughed and Kira was struck by how much like her father this young girl was. She had the same smile and long neck, though hers was only decorated with the discrete cartilages of a half-Bajoran. Her limbs were long and slim like those of many humanoid females in their early adolescence.

"Go back to your sister's, Escari," said Naprem, again lifting her hands to allow the wompats access to her knee.

"But *he* kept going on about biscuits! Can't he stay here?" she whined. "He's not interested in the baby, and he keeps making noise while we're trying to talk."

"No, he's not staying here. We have a guest, and besides, you agreed you were going to look after him today."

"Can I have a biscuit, Mommy?" chirped the little boy, who seemed to have recovered from his fear after all.

"No, you can't," said his mother. "Or weren't you listening to my conversation with your sister?"

The little boy looked a little thoughtful and then walked past his mother.

"No, you... Kesharl! He is *not* having a biscuit," she called out as the boy trotted into the kitchen. She sighed and looked apologetically at Kira. "Sorry about this. I don't know why I bother... I just *know* what's going on in there."

Escari sat on the arm of her chair and absent-mindedly picked up one of the wompats and placed it on her shoulder. After a moment's hesitation due to being rudely awoken, it wrapped itself around her broad neck and settled down to continue its nap.

"Our eldest daughter is expecting a child," said Naprem, evidently feeling she should talk to Kira. "That will be the fourteenth child born in the base. Our son Edon was one of the first."

"How many children do you have?" asked Kira politely.

"Four. Three daughters and one son. I suppose you must find it rather shocking that we should have so many half-caste children," she started, apparently used to comments on that subject. She smiled, and looked up tenderly at her daughter sitting on the armrest. "Kesharl says we're trying to create a new species. But the truth is that we both love children."

The kitchen door opened and Dukat came out with his son holding firmly onto his middle finger. The little boy was skipping and his father winced as each skip yanked on his finger.

"No he didn't get a biscuit," said Dukat before his wife even had time to say anything. "But he *is* going back to see Ziyal, aren't you, Edon?"

Edon nodded absently, but he was staring at Kira again.

"Right, so we're all agreed, off you go, you two," he said with authority.

"Are you coming with us, Daddy?" said the little boy.

"No, I'm not. I'm making drinks for our guest," explained Dukat. 

"Yes, and if you don't mind me saying so, you're taking forever to do them, Kesharl," pointed out Naprem.

Dukat cast a long-suffering glance at Kira. "They'd be ready faster if I weren't perpetually interrupted. Now go, shoo," he said to his children.

Escari pulled the wompat off her shoulders and placed it on the floor. It promptly jumped up on the forbidden chair and went back to sleep as the children went out.

"Now: drinks, and then talking," said Dukat with dignity. "I'll be right back..."

Naprem looked tenderly after him as he went back into the kitchen. Then she turned towards Kira again.

"Don't worry, we usually get our act together eventually... Cossa, get down!" she exclaimed as she noticed the wompat on the chair. This time, she picked up the wompat on her knee, which was presumably Tessa, and actually leant over towards the other chair so she could poke Cossa off it. After a couple of prods, the animal finally got down, and then jumped up on Kira's lap, since it was available.

Dukat finally came out with the drinks, laid out on a tray which turned out to be a collapsible table. He sat down in the chair Cossa had vacated and handed Kira a tall glass filled with some kind of hot tea. It was perfumed with a pinch of ginger. She wondered if Dukat knew this was one of her favourite drinks, and when she looked at him, he winked. This was evidently something she had in common with the Intendant.

In the meantime, though, Dukat was flexing his sore finger as he drank his tea.

"I'm too old to have young children," he lamented.

Naprem laughed and rolled her eyes at Kira. "Pay no attention. He's been going on like this ever since Ziyal's become pregnant. She's our eldest child," she specified, though of course Kira already knew that. "I don't know why you're complaining. You have other grandchildren on Cardassia."

"Yes, but I've never met any of them, so it doesn't matter," he said ruefully.

"In case you're wondering; I'm his second wife," explained Naprem for Kira's benefit. "He has three children by his first wife, and one of them has two children. But you haven't seen any of them for what, ten years?"

Dukat nodded, though he was still looking at Kira. "Something like that... No, longer. It was that time I went to Cardassia before Escari was born."

"Right, I remember that, yes." She turned her attention back to Kira. "Kesharl was an Alliance civil servant at the Embassy on Bajor -- that's where we met. Your wife never did live on Bajor, did she?"

"No, she was working as a doctor in Isharka and, I don't know, she just never liked Bajor. Just as well..." He exchanged a meaningful look with his wife and her sensual lips curled into a smile.

"We got married when his parents finally agreed to the divorce," she told Kira. "We lived on Bajor a few years after that, but then... things changed there."

Dukat lowered his eyes as he had done with Kira in the vehicle. "I told her what happened."

"Those were hard times," said Naprem, nodding thoughtfully. "It's strange to sit here, talking to you, and think about what your alternate in this universe did to us. That was ten years ago, when Kira Nerys first became Intendant of Bajor... But we survived, and we're quite happy here. We keep running out of food, of course, because no one seems to be able to keep the replicators running --" she looked at her husband reproachfully.

"We're all doing our best," he said.

Naprem shooed the wompat off her knee and got up.

"Actually, that reminds me, while we're on the subject of food, I had better go and make us something to eat," she said. "I had no idea it was so late, and it'll take a while with the replicators down."

"I can do that," offered her husband.

"I'm not having you fiddling around the kitchen for a meal -- we'll be here all night!"

"Yes, but..." Dukat was about to get up, but then he realised a wompat had just appeared on his lap, so he remained seated. He exchanged a conniving smile with Kira, and, leaning towards her, said, "She's not a very good cook."

"I heard that!" came from the kitchen.

Kesharl Dukat threw his head back and laughed. And as she watched his profile, Kira found herself wishing the Dukat on her side had such a joyful disposition. Or maybe it was just that he didn't get much of a chance to express it.

* * *

Kira could see Dukat's appraisal of Naprem's cooking was accurate. The food was wholesome -- soup, bread and a thick stew -- but not very tasty, at least not until Dukat produced a pot of spices, which he and Kira were able to spread lavishly on their food. 

The meal was interrupted no less than seven times. First, Escari came back to get some object or other that she wanted to show Ziyal. Then, the wompat Tessa wanted to go outside, so Dukat got up to let it out. He had no sooner sat down than Cossa also decided it wanted to go out and he had to get up again. 

A few minutes later, as they started on the main course, the seamstress brought Kira's uniform back and stopped for a quick cup of tea and a short discussion about various local topics. Then a comm message came in to inform Dukat that Kira's shuttle wouldn't be ready until the morning. The next interruption came when a little boy brought a message from one of Dukat's subordinates regarding the replicator problem. Dukat and Naprem promptly left the table and tried out the replicator, giving Kira a very nice Cardassian desert which made up for the blandness of the main meal.

Finally, they had barely finished the desert when the whole of the Dukat family returned, complete with Ziyal and her husband, who were both curious to see the alternate Kira Nerys. The major was surprised to find how different Ziyal was. Of course, the young woman was heavily pregnant, which meant her features were fuller and her whole demeanour different from the girl Kira knew on Deep Space Nine. But this woman was also more self-confident and poised, her character set by a youth spent in the midst of a warm and loving family.

Kira couldn't suppress a smile of recognition when she saw who Ziyal was married to in this universe. Dukat noticed her reaction, and grinned as Naprem introduced them all.

"Major Kira, this is our second daughter Jactara," she indicated a girl in her mid-teens who was the most Bajoran-looking of the four, though her pink skin still bore light marks of her Cardassian heritage. "And this is our eldest daughter Ziyal, and her husband Sebor Damar."

"The only man who can make jocara root grow on this moon," specified Dukat, though he was still observing Kira attentively.

Damar grinned sheepishly and murmured a shy "Hello."

"Well, we have to go now," said Ziyal, pushing her husband towards the door. "We only came to drop off the children."

Jactara rolled her eyes as if to indicate she didn't like being included in that statement.

It took another half hour before the combined efforts of their parents managed to get all the children off to bed. Kira watched all their agitation with the same delighted amusement as before, but she was quite pleased when Dukat and his wife were finally rid of children and wompats and where able to sit down again.

They discussed various aspects of life on the base, which Kira found quite interesting. It appeared that this settlement had been created by Bajoran dissidents roughly twenty years earlier. They used the planet to hide malcontents from the Alliance, mainly Bajorans and Cardassians, though there were some other species, including the occasional runaway Terran slave. Gradually, the network of underground habitations grew, and children were born, turning the base into a proper community. The Dukats had moved there with their three daughters after his relationship with the Intendant put an end to an otherwise thriving career in the Alliance civil service. Kira found it difficult to imagine the Alliance had civil servants, but, as Naprem pointed out, every empire needs to be administered. 

Hounded by the Intendant's troops, the family hid on Cardassia for a short while, but with Escari still a babe in arms, it was not possible to conceal their presence there indefinitely, and they moved on again. Their next stop was Lessepia, which was still a neutral planet in those days. But when it was brutally invaded by the Alliance, they sought a more permanent hiding place and finally settled on this Bajoran moon. Paradoxically, though it was in the Bajoran system, the base only suffered occasional raids. By then, the Intendant had Gul Garak and Benjamin Sisko to keep her occupied, so she had apparently decided to let the Dukats live.

"Kesharl was selected as our leader six years ago," said Naprem. "He's done a lot to make the settlement safer. Though we always have problems with power supplies because there are virtually no natural resources here, life has improved a great deal compared to the way it was when we first arrived."

"Well, your life has improved, of course," laughed Dukat. "But then I naturally make sure my family have the best of everything. There wouldn't be much point in being a leader otherwise."

"Don't listen to him, Major. He's a just and honest commander, who makes sure no one under his protection is wanting. Even Terrans are welcome here."

This time, he just nodded and agreed with her statement. "And we're seeing more and more of them now that the Terran rebellion is doing so well. There have been a great many slave revolts in the past three years. In itself, that is rather a good thing. The Alliance depends heavily on the labour of slave races, and particularly Terran slave labour, because the Terrans reproduce so quickly. So if all the Terrans take arms against the master races, that will make things very difficult for the Alliance."

"But that still won't be enough to destroy the empire as long as the masters maintain their own cohesion," continued his wife. "Terran slaves are no match for the combined efforts of their Bajoran, Cardassian and Klingon overlords. They will need the help of people within the Alliance races, dissidents like ourselves. One speech from Kesharl will carry far more force with the Cardassian population than a hundred rebellions by insignificant Terran slaves. And once the Cardassians, and the Bajorans, and the Klingons are ready to destroy the Alliance, then it will fall."

"You know, Naprem, that's exactly what I told Captain O'Brien when I met him. The Trill he had with him understood what I meant, but I'm not sure he agreed with my views."

Kira was concerned about this apparent dissent in the ranks of the opposition to the Alliance. "So you're not exactly part of the Rebellion?" she asked.

Dukat shook his head. "Inasmuch as the 'Rebellion' is the uprising of the Terran slaves, no, we haven't played any part in that. Beyond supplying weapons to certain factions, that is, which is actually why I met with O'Brien. We do share some common goals, the dissolution of the Alliance for one, but there are also some major points of contention which I think will become problematic if their successes continue."

"For a start," explained Naprem, "we definitely don't want to see a resurgence of the Terran Empire. My people suffered a great deal during that time."

"And that's one of the reasons why I think the Rebellion will not succeed on its own," continued Dukat. "As I said, the Terrans need the help of Alliance races in order to destroy the Alliance, and the last thing the Bajorans want is to help the Terrans regain their former power."

"They might be convinced to help the Rebellion, though," said Kira. "It really depends on the circumstances. On my side, Bajor was occupied for sixty years by the Cardassians, and was only freed six years ago. Barely two years after the end of the Occupation, our government was prepared to negotiate with the Cardassians again. There were common enemies -- the Klingons and another empire, the Dominion -- and circumstances were right for our two people to bury our past differences... for a while."

"What happened then?" asked Dukat.

She looked at those familiar features set in an expression of curiosity and interest, and her mind brought up yet another image of the Dukat on her side. That same face, the same husky voice, but set in deadly earnest as he menaced the whole sector with threats of returning to 'One Cardassia'. Difficult to believe the two were the same man, simply separated by circumstances.

"There was a military coup," she told them. "Cardassia is now allied with the Dominion, and it looks as if they might be trying to invade Bajor again sometime soon."

"Who is the Dominion?" asked Naprem.

Kira wondered if she should tell them about the wormhole. She had carefully avoided mentioning it the first time she had come, and judging by his reports, Sisko had done the same the two times he had come over. She decided the mirror universe had quite enough problems of its own without the addition of whatever Odo's people were doing in the Gamma Quadrant.

"They're a very powerful empire you don't seem to have on this side," she said cautiously. "They want to dominate the whole Quadrant, and Cardassia was the first empire on their way. For a time, we thought the Dominion would simply invade Cardassia, but then... then Gul Dukat allied himself with them and they supported his coup to take power on Cardassia."

Dukat smiled. "Ah, my evil alter ego."

"So Kesharl's alternate self is the ruler of Cardassia?" queried Naprem. "Now, that's interesting."

"Maybe I'm destined to great things on this side, too," remarked Dukat.

Kira shook her head. "I don't think Gul Dukat is destined for 'great things'. The Dominion aren't interested in an alliance with anyone. They're just using Cardassia as a stepping stone to the rest of the Quadrant. When they're finished with her, they'll just destroy her, and Gul Dukat as well."

For some reason, she felt some regret at that. Though she had never liked Dukat, even in the days when he was a rebel fighting the Klingons, she did feel the man had the potential to be so much more than just another evil dictator on his way to a sticky end. Meeting his alternate self just confirmed her intuition.

"It does sound as if he's playing with fire," agreed Dukat politely. "But given the circumstances you describe, I doubt he had much choice. If you can't chase the grishna cat away from your herd, you're better off giving it a calf."

Kira smiled at the idea of Gul Dukat deliberately placating the Dominion by giving them his beloved homeland. "I doubt Gul Dukat sees things like that. I suspect he's simply decided to devour the herd with the grishna cat, without thinking that once every cow is eaten, it will turn and eat him."

"True, and it might not even wait until every cow is gone." He suddenly laughed. "We're sounding like a pair of old vedeks, sitting here talking in metaphors! Anyway, I know nothing about this Dominion, or this Gul Dukat for that matter. All I can say is that it sounds like the sort of thing I might do if I were really backed into a corner."

"What are you talking about, Kesharl Dukat?" exclaimed Naprem. "You would do nothing of the sort. This man is obviously out for his own personal glory."

That was certainly Kira's analysis of the situation, and she nodded. "Gul Dukat has always been power-hungry. He used to be the Prefect of Bajor during the Occupation, and I don't think he ever really got over losing the power he had in those days."

"So you see, you're not a bit like him," concluded Naprem. "And I think you would behave quite differently under the same circumstances."

"I doubt it," said her husband seriously. "After all, we're both the same person, but only the circumstances are different. So obviously, what he is doing is exactly what I would do under the same conditions."

"What a terrible thought," exclaimed Naprem. "Still, I suppose if Kira Nerys -- "our" Kira Nerys -- could have such a sweet and demure alternate, there's no reason why yours shouldn't be completely different too."

Kira was surprised at Naprem's description of her being "sweet and demure". But given she had hardly got a word in edgeways since the evening had begun, it was perhaps not surprising the woman had such a strange idea of her character.

Meanwhile, Dukat was looking quite thoughtful. "You've told us about my alternate, but you haven't told us about the other Tora Naprem."

"That's true," agreed his wife. "You recognised me, so I presume she exists in your universe as well, and that you knew her."

"No, I never met her," started Kira, before realising this particular story would be hard to tell. Until now, this had been the only aspect of Gul Dukat's life which made her feel the least bit of sympathy for him. Now that she had this Dukat and this Tora in front of her, she understood even better how important that relationship might have been for him, and just how tragic its end was.

"She died about seven years ago," she continued. "So all I know is what Dukat and their daughter Ziyal told me."

"So they were together in your universe, too?" said Naprem with a smile. 

Kira looked at her plump face and tried to imagine that this was the woman who had captivated Gul Dukat's heart in her own universe. Until now, she had only seen a hologram of Tora Naprem in her old Cardassian security file, though Ziyal's features were a living testimony to her mother's existence. The round cheeks, the voice, even some of the mannerisms were the same. No wonder Dukat had been so shocked when he saw Ziyal on the Dozaria planet.

"Yes. But Tora Naprem was Dukat's mistress. He was still married to his Cardassian wife when they were together."

"Is his wife Kesadia Yahel?" asked Dukat.

Kira tried to remember the name of Gul Dukat's wife. "I'm not sure, but yes, I think Kesadia is her name. I must have read it in his security file, but I don't remember."

Naprem was naturally less interested in Dukat's Cardassian wife than in the fate of her mirror counterpart. "How did Tora die?"

"A couple of years before the Occupation ended, Dukat decided to send Tora and Ziyal to Lessepia. I guess he knew the wind was changing, and since his mistress and daughter would have been welcome neither on Cardassia nor on Bajor once he was no longer in power, he thought they would be safer elsewhere. But they never made it -- Tora was killed when their ship crashed on a planet, and Ziyal was captured and enslaved by the Breen."

"Oh, that is so sad!" exclaimed Naprem. "Do you know if Dukat loved Tora? Or was it just a case of a powerful man and his opportunistic mistress?"

Though she would have liked to believe the latter description suited them best, Kira could not forget Dukat's reaction on Dozaria. It had been difficult for her to accept it back then, when she had seen the hated oppressor of her people sitting in the sand, his whole attention focused on the gilt pledge bracelet. But she remembered the expression on his face, the sad tone of his voice as he refused to talk about his mistress. 'Naprem and I loved each other,' he had said. And for perhaps the first time in her life, she had believed him.

Seeing the alternate Dukat and Naprem just confirmed her beliefs. If Gul Dukat had loved the collaborator Tora Naprem anywhere as much as this Dukat loved his wife, then she could sympathise with his loss, and feel the regret of what could have been, if circumstances in her universe had been different.

"As I said, I didn't know her," said Kira slowly, "but I was there when we found her grave... I saw Dukat's reaction... and I think he sincerely loved her."

Naprem sighed sadly, and Dukat was also visibly affected by the story.

"Was Ziyal ever freed?" he asked.

"Yes," answered Kira. "We... I mean, Dukat and I freed Ziyal last year, and she's now living on Deep Space Nine with me."

"So you were Gul Dukat's..." started Naprem.

"No, I'm not Dukat's anything," interrupted Kira, feeling the blood rush to her face. But then she wondered if she had misinterpreted Naprem's question. "I mean... I don't know, what were you going to say?"

The alternate Dukat grinned at her reaction, but wisely didn't make any comment. Naprem looked a little concerned at having flustered her.

"I'm sorry," she apologised. "Obviously, from what you have said about him, you dislike Gul Dukat very much. I just thought it a little odd that he let his daughter live with you and wondered if you were... closer to him then than you are now," she concluded diplomatically.

Kira was surprised to find she didn't know what to say. She could have vehemently denied any closeness with Gul Dukat, but it was evident that Naprem now believed her dislike of him was motivated by some other feelings she might have had for him in the past. Whether that was true or not was a little hard to tell, as Kira herself found it difficult to unravel and explain the real complexity of her emotions where the former head of the Occupation was concerned. 

They had certainly never been friends, but when they had been together on Dozaria, and a few months later on the Groumal, she had felt some guilt at misjudging him so severely in the past. It had seemed as though he was changing, revealing more of himself to her, and in spite of herself, she had been fascinated by what he unveiled. And now she was angry at him for reverting to his old ways just when it seemed as though he was making such progress.

She decided to make light of whatever ambiguous feelings she had for the Dukat on her side, and concentrate instead on telling the story. 

"I... well, no, there was never anything between us. I was simply in a position to help him find Ziyal," she explained, before continuing with the tale. "Dukat initially brought Ziyal back to Cardassia, but that just gave his enemies an excuse to oust him out of power. They made him a freighter captain and... he's not the right sort of man for that job," she said with a smile. "Part of Cardassia had been invaded by the Klingon Empire, so he went to fight them for a while, as a sort of pirate, if you like. And since Ziyal was part of his crew, she would have gone to fight with him. I spent most of my life fighting the Cardassians when they occupied Bajor, and I knew that was no life for a young woman. I offered to take Ziyal back to Deep Space Nine with me so she wouldn't have to live on a battleship. Dukat agreed that she would probably be happier there."

"He must have a great deal of respect for you," said the alternate Dukat in a low voice that opened a flood of memories in Kira's mind.

"He does," she started. "I mean... he did, or maybe he... I don't know. Anyway, he said he wanted her to learn about her Bajoran heritage."

"That makes sense," agreed Dukat, though there was a twinkle in his eye.

"And now that he's ruling Cardassia with the help of the Dominion, what has become of Ziyal? Is she still living with you?" asked Naprem.

"Yes," said Kira shortly. "She... had a disagreement with her father before the coup, so she remained on the station when he took power."

Naprem shook her head sadly. "That is truly dreadful. What a sad story; it's no wonder he is such a terrible person if he has been plagued by such ill-fortune all his life."

"I am obviously the fortunate one," agreed Dukat. "We may not be living in luxury here, and we do have to fight the Alliance, but at least we have a warm and secure family. Ziyal has married a good man, though I would have preferred her to wait a little longer..."

"That's only the thousandth time I've heard you say that in the past year, Kesharl," interjected his wife.

"...But when all is said and done, even my work as leader of this community doesn't compare to the life I live right here in this house."

"You can tell he could have a propagandist for the Alliance, like his father," teased Naprem.

"I tell you I'm happy here, and that's all you have to say?"

Naprem laughed happily, but they were yet again interrupted by the door chime. Dukat went to hoist the door open and exchanged a few words with a young Bajoran man there, before coming back into the room.

"Major Kira," he said. "It seems as though my engineering team is having some difficulty getting your engines back on line. They don't actually know anything about your technology. So could we both go and have a look at it?"

Kira nodded and got up. She took her leave from Naprem and then followed Dukat and the Bajoran out into the open.

* * *

It took an hour for Kira to explain to the unfortunate engineering team how the Federation runabout worked, and even then, she was pretty sure the only one who understood anything was Dukat. So he and she spent the next hour ordering the engineering team about until the warp engine was back on line. A major stumbling block was that the engineers couldn't understand why she didn't actually want the plasma injector leak repaired as well. She did try to explain that this was her ticket back to her own universe, but that didn't really seem to sink in.

"I guess this is the sort of time when Smiley O'Brien would come in handy," Dukat murmured in Kira's ear as he passed her.

She smiled at him and he winked at her again. It was so strange to be winked at by one of those pale eyes that her smile faded.

Once they were confident that the engineering team would get the runabout back in working order by the morning, Kira and Dukat walked back towards the encampment. The engineering post was about a kilometre away from the base, and on the other side of it from where Dukat lived, so it would take them about half an hour to get back. Dukat evidently didn't believe in driving anywhere unless it was really necessary, and they left the engineer's vehicle at the outpost. 

The moon was as near to the Bajoran sun as its orbit would bring it and the air was warm, the sky a deep blue as the sun shone through the thin atmosphere. Kira soon realised just how thin the air was, and was out of breath after about ten minutes' walk. She struggled to keep up with Dukat, but finally had to stop and sit down on a rock in an effort to regain control of her breathing. Dukat crouched down beside her.

"I'm sorry, I should have remembered you're not used to living here," he said. "The air is a little thin -- you can run out of breath if you make any effort."

"Sorry about this," she apologised, as if it were her fault that there wasn't quite enough oxygen for her on the moon.

"That's all right, we'll just sit here for a while." He paused, and then started, "we're on the moon's equator here. We chose this area because it doesn't get the sun so much. I suppose you know Cardassians like intense warmth, but we're not too keen on intense sunshine; it tends to blind us. We have very sensitive eyes. Anyway, this part of the moon is nearly always in the twilight. The moon doesn't revolve on itself, so we only get thirteen days of direct sunlight when the moon comes out from behind Bajor and goes towards the sun. We tend to spend that time in our houses -- that's one of the reasons they are underground, so we don't have to go out into the sun at all. Of course, the main reason we have subterranean habitations is to protect us from the Alliance."

After a few moments of deep breathing, she felt well enough to look down at him. He was sitting on the ground, his arms resting comfortably on his knees, his familiar voice chattering on unconcernedly. Evidently, Kesharl Dukat was of a talkative disposition, regardless of where he lived. But when he realised she was looking at him, he stopped talking and turned his head towards her.

"I'm sorry, I hope I wasn't boring you with my chatter," he said. "Naprem always says I talk too much."

She smiled. "Gul Dukat is quite fond of the sound of his own voice, too. Not that I mean you --"

"I understand," he said with a grin. "You know this Gul Dukat very well, don't you?"

"Not very well. I used to hear his voice nearly every day when he was Prefect of Bajor. He was always explaining why Bajor had to provide more labour for the mines, or why random executions were necessary, all for the greater glory of the Cardassian empire. That was as much as I knew of him back then."

"Then how did you get involved in rescuing Ziyal?"

"Last year, our two governments sent us on a mission to find the ship Naprem had perished in. We... As far as the Bajoran government was concerned, it was a mission to find a Cardassian ship which had been carrying Bajoran prisoners. I had no idea Dukat had anything to do with it, let alone that his mistress and daughter were on it. But he was the one the Cardassian government sent -- I guess it was Dukat's idea anyway. So that's when we rescued Ziyal and he told me about his relationship with Naprem. We've... met a couple of times since then, too."

"It sounds like you know him a lot better than you let on," he remarked gently.

She was not sure she wanted to pursue this conversation about Gul Dukat. Especially when talking to his mirror counterpart. 

"Why are you asking me this?" she challenged.

He sighed and stood up, looking deliberately away from her. "It's just... it doesn't matter."

She got up too. "What?"

"I just wondered what parallels there are between our two universes," he explained as they resumed their trek back to the encampment. "I once read a work someone wrote in the last century, after the first crossover from your universe. This professor elaborated a whole theory on destiny, based on the existence of different quantum realities. His main premise was that if one could do a statistical study of a person's life in a sample of about one hundred realities, the result would be a rough estimate of that person's destiny. If you like, it would highlight the events that the person could not avoid. In the case of your persona, Kira Nerys, it would seem her destiny is linked to the space station Terok Nor. And both Benjamin Sisko and Kesharl Dukat play some part in her life. The circumstances may be different, but the players are the same."

She nodded. "I see. You want to know about my relationship with Gul Dukat so you can compare it to your relationship with the Intendant... well, I can certainly say it bears very little resemblance."

He noticed her cautious phrasing. "And what is the little resemblance there is?"

Kira knew she was blushing again, and hoped he would think it was due to the thin air. The little resemblance she had been thinking of was Gul Dukat's obvious and unwelcome attraction for her. But somehow, she felt embarrassed to explain this.

"It doesn't matter," she said, unconsciously echoing his earlier statement.

"Why..." he started, before apparently deciding whatever he had planned to say was not worth saying. 

He looked at her intensely, until she wondered if this Dukat too was about to make a pass at her. She could not help noticing that his eyes had been fixed on her all evening, and she had to admit the reason she had noticed this was that her own gaze kept drifting back to him. She found it was doing that again, automatically looking up to meet his gaze fixed upon her. When their eyes met, they both stopped walking.

She took in the details of his face as he looked over hers. Though the racial prejudice born of the Resistance had made her slow to see this, she was conscious, even in her own universe, that Kesharl Dukat was a reasonably good-looking man. And in this reality, he also seemed a rather pleasant person to know. She half-regretted that he was married.

He finally dragged his gaze away from her features, and she felt an intense pang of loss as they resumed their walk. 

"I guess that's the 'little resemblance'," he murmured.

"What do you mean?" she asked, hoping a conversation would dispel the strange mood she was in.

"I was hoping that was fate... that I was attracted to her because I couldn't do anything else. That's what I hoped. It certainly felt like fate."

"That you were attracted to the Intendant..?"

He nodded, his profile grim in the twilight. "Because I was, of course. I felt such a heel, really the lowliest of worms, but I didn't ask for anything to happen. She was the one who said she could have Naprem executed. Of course she could -- Naprem was a Bajoran citizen, Nerys could do anything she liked with her. Rape her, imprison her, execute her. But Naprem was safe as long as I could play that bitch's affection right."

Kira was silent during his confession. It sounded as if here too the relationship between Kesharl Dukat and Kira Nerys was fraught with hatred. If she had known Gul Dukat under the Occupation, would he have used his power to get what he wanted from her, as the Intendant had menaced Kesharl? That was quite possible. He had never been overbearingly menacing with her in the time they had spent together in recent years, but then his circumstances had changed, and he did not have the power of life and death over her and her loved ones. 

"When I first met the Intendant," continued the alternate Dukat, "I just had this feeling... You know the way it goes -- you meet someone you've never seen before, and you think 'yes, if circumstances were different, I suppose we could have an affair'. That's all I thought; I certainly didn't *want* an affair with her. I had never been unfaithful to my wife, even to Kesadia; that's why Naprem and I had to wait so long. But you see, Kira Nerys looked at me and she thought the same thing as I did, except she didn't care if I was married or what. As far as she was concerned, that was just a convenient way of getting me. I felt really guilty; maybe if I hadn't been attracted to her in the first place, she'd have left us alone."

Kira remembered how hard Gul Dukat had held her arm when Odo cleared her of Vaatrik's murder. Yes, Dukat would very probably have treated her the same way the Intendant treated this man, and the two situations were comparable. Perhaps fate did have a hand in it after all. In both universes, Kira and Dukat shared a mutual desire, but fate made one the hunter and the other the unwilling prey. She was surprised to find her mind was so willing to accept the thought she might desire Gul Dukat in some way... and it was pretty obvious in what way. Meeting this man made her realise that. He had never harmed her or her people, so no prejudice blinded her to the charm of his voice and his looks.

Fortunately, Gul Dukat had never had the chance to hurt her, but it did not lessen her sympathy for what Kesharl Dukat had suffered at the hands of the Intendant.

"I don't think you were to blame," she told him. "It sounds as though you didn't have much choice."

"That doesn't make me feel all that much better, though. But when I met you earlier this evening, I felt the same way, and I wondered if there was some connection."

"There is," she said simply.

He stopped to look at her again. Without giving her gesture much thought, she placed her hand at the top of his neck, where his ridges first flared out beneath his jaw. He must have been anticipating her gesture because his lips found hers without difficulty. Adrenaline coursed through her veins like fire as they kissed, and then withdrew as he gently pushed her away, leaving her cold and empty.

He stroked her cheek. "There is a connection, but it's the wrong one, Nerys."

"I know." She lowered her eyes to the ground and they walked in silence through the base. As they reached his front door, she stopped him, placing her hand on his arm.

"I don't know about you, Nerys, but I'm married," he explained a little irritably.

"Yes... I mean, I understand," she said. "It's just... They say that every decision we make splits the universe, that for every time we say no, there is a universe where we said yes. I wonder if there's a reality out there where you didn't say that..."

He smiled more pleasantly as he understood her meaning. "I'm sure Nerys and Kesharl had a good time."

The thought was of little comfort, but made her smile as he pulled the door open.

"I suppose so," she said softly. "Who knows, maybe there's even a universe where they are you and me, not the Intendant, or Gul Dukat."

The living room was dark -- Naprem had obviously gone to bed. She had left instructions on a padd for Kira to be put in the 'back room', which turned out to be a small bedroom off the kitchen. The room smelled conspicuously of air freshner, and there was no window in it at all, just a multicoloured Cardassian lamp hanging over the narrow bed. Dukat lit the lamp and smiled politely as she came in. She wondered if he knew what terrible thoughts crossed her mind as she saw him standing by the bed.

"Good night," he said politely as he left the room.

"Kesharl," she called after him, letting the name linger on her lips for the very first time.

He turned to smile at her. "I'll see you first thing in the morning, Nerys."

She nodded, and sat down on the bed as he closed the door. Her eyes focused on the curious patterns the stained-glass lamp cast on the uneven, bare surface of the walls. She lay down and watched the glow until the tears were gone.


End file.
